Being and Becoming: Embodiment and Experience among the Orang Rimba of Sumatra

Ramsey Elkholy

Published by Berghahn Books 2016

Being and Becoming

Embodiment and Experience among the Orang Rimba of Sumatra

Ramsey Elkholy

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781785331602

Overview
Contents

About this book

For the Orang Rimba of Sumatra – and tropical foragers in general – life in the forest engenders a kind of “connectedness” that is contingent not only on harmonious relations between people, but also between people and the non-human environment, including those supernatural agencies of the forest that people depend on for their spiritual and emotional wellbeing. Exploring this world, anthropologist Ramsey Elkholy treats embodied action and perception as the basis of shared experience and shows how various forms of embodied experience constitute the very foundations of human culture. In a unique methodological contribution, Elkholy adopts a set of body-centered approaches that reflect and capture the day-to-day, moment-to-moment ways in which people engage with the world. Being and Becoming is an important contribution to phenomenological anthropology, hunter-gatherer studies, and to Southeast Asian ethnography more generally.

Author / Editor information

Ramsey Elkholy, PhD, University of Manchester, is an entrepreneur, musician, and writer based in New York City.

Reviews

“Being and Becoming perfectly represents the present-day anthropological focus on bodies, senses, and the construction of persons (human and otherwise), as well as the replacement of textual emphases with phenomenological ones.” • Anthropology Review Database

“This is the perfect introduction to phenomenological anthropology, brilliantly combining theoretical insight with ethnographic analysis.” • Gillian Evans, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester

“The book provides a well-written ethnography from a phenomenological approach of a small hunter-gatherer group in Sumatra, known as Orang Rimba. This is a good ethnography, and a good contribution to hunter-gatherer studies and to phenomenological anthropology. It includes some delightful and perceptive discussions.” • Nurit Bird-David, University of Haifa

“This is an interesting and rich ethnography of the Orang Rimba, about whom little published material is available.” • Isabell Herrmans, University of Helsinki

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Figures and Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Foreword Tim Ingold Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	XIV
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	XVIII
Introduction: Situating Subjectivity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Chapter 1 Into the Field: The Orang Rimba at Sungai Gelumpang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 2 Sociality and the Negotiation of Self and Other Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Chapter 3 Touch and the Mutual Constitution of Selves and Others Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Chapter 4 Forest, Village, and the Significance of Movement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
PART II BODY AND WORLD
Chapter 5 A Journey to Kemumu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 6 Becoming a Hunter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Chapter 7 Becoming in the Forest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Chapter 8 Shamanism and the Textures of the Universe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Chapter 9 Melangun Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Orthography and Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 294
Keywords: Anthropology (General); Theory and Methodology

eBook

Published: May 1, 2016
ISBN: 9781785331602